With the leadership of the Mayor and City Council (M&CC) still not recognising interim Town Clerk Candace Nelson, she resorted to walking out of a statutory meeting held on Monday at the Kitty Market Hall.
Deputy Mayor Alfred Mentore yesterday told Stabroek News that while Nelson was present at the meeting, she was not given permission to speak. He defended the stance, saying that at the end of the day City Hall’s administration is a servant of the council.
Mentore also accused Nelson of acting unlawfully by instructing officers to leave the meeting alongside her.
However, he noted that the business of the council proceeded with Director of Solid Waste Walter Narine sitting in as Town Clerk for the sake of continuing the meeting. He said, “At the end of the day, a council is a council in perpetual succession… if one should abort it they must find ways to continue the business of the council.”
Mentore explained that regardless of who is available, the business of the council, the people and the staff must be honoured and should not be stalled because someone fails to comply.
Against this background, the council took the opportunity to name four persons as signatories to the city’s bank accounts, two of whom were already listed, namely former acting Town Clerk Sherry Jerrick and Julian Orgistra. Narine and councillor Clayton Hinds, who is a member of the finance committee, were added.
Mentore explained that things must be put in place to allow for perpetual succession and added that the council will notify the bank by the way of letter and minutes so staff can be paid.
Mentore believes that with Jerrick being reverted to her substantive position as Assistant Town Clerk, which was decided by the Local Government Commission, Nelson should not hold herself out as a signatory to the city’s accounts until a pending legal challenge against her appointment is settled.
He said that should she make decisions and they turn out to be unlawful, the Council will be in a quandary as to how to reverse those decisions.
The Local Government Commission Chairman Julius Faerber made the decision to appoint Nelson in consultation with Deputy Chairman Norman Whittaker. Faerber has said his actions are in keeping with the Commission’s legal practice, while noting that appointing a replacement was critical since the position of Town Clerk could not remain vacant. Two opposition-nominated members of the Commission have questioned the legality of his actions, while the majority APNU members of the Council have maintained that he acted illegally.
